I Can't Wait to Share this Book With You

One of the most engaging reads I've come across in awhile

Hey there!

Good to see you again. I was just telling you about the toothpaste-on-the-bathtub incident, wasn't I? I assure you it wasn't some unthinking stunt like little kids pull from time to time. I'll tell you what I was attempting in just a minute. Congrats to reader Pat E for guessing it first!

First, though, some book news. I got my report back from the editor on Thursday, and I was SO ENCOURAGED by the feedback. The book isn't perfect, but she did use phrases like "brilliant job" and "fantastic pace and tension," which further suggests to me that this is going to be a book that people read and enjoy and recommend to their friends. As in last week's note, though, there will be more cycles of writing words, chucking them into the bin, and repeating before the book will be ready to shop around. But it's part of the process, and the book will be even better because of it.

By the way, thanks to everyone who read and responded to the deleted scene from last week. Did you read it? If you haven't shared already, I'd love to know what you think. A lot of people ask me why certain scenes were deleted. Sometimes the question is easy to answer, but this one was a toughie. The best answer I can give is that it didn't quite belong in this book. It captured a feeling I wanted to get across, a feeling of women supporting one another, of sisterhood, but that wasn't enough. The next prologue had more backstory, and clarified the how the world of the book came to be. But I cut that one, too! More on that in a few weeks.

I'm dying to share the real, actual, completed book with you. I'll be sending more deleted scenes, backstory, research, and inspiration over the next several months, along with my usual updates, blog posts, and articles I think you'll enjoy. For today, though, I'm going to give you a dope book recommendation. On the blog today, I wrote about the feminist dystopia genre - the presumed genre of The Other Women. These are titles you'd see next to The Handmaid's Tale on bookstore shelves, or in the "also bought" section of Amazon. When I first started thinking of my book as a feminist dystopia, I looked around for more books in the space.

I didn't find many, but the ones I did find, I devoured. I enjoyed the social commentary in all of them, though I liked some premises and styles better than others. Today I'm going to focus on one book in particular - my favorite of the bunch. The book is called Future Home of the Living God, and it's by a tremendously talented author by the name of Louise Erdrich. As I mention in the blog, I'd already read her middle-grade Birchbark House series (or, more accurately, listened in while my husband read it to my children as I nursed the baby in the next room). She is of the Ojibwe people of the northern Midwest, and as such her characters often (always?) share this heritage.

The protagonist of this particular book is Cedar, an Ojibwe woman who was adopted at birth by liberal American parents. Inside the book is a journal - more like a long letter - she writes to her unborn baby. Something is happening in the world where the babies aren't "normal" anymore. Cedar doesn't know what it is, but she knows she doesn't want to be rounded up like the other pregnant women. The book follows her on her journey to find and commune with her birth family and community, and also to come to terms with her feelings about the parents who adopted and raised her - all while evading capture as she becomes more obviously pregnant.

It's hard to describe what pulled me into this book more than The Power, or Daughters of the North, or any of the other books on the list. They were all well-written and, like I said, I appreciated the social commentary. But the voice in this one - it wasn't a dystopian voice. It wasn't too choppy. It was like Cedar was standing just behind and to the left of me, whispering the story into my ear. The world around her was mostly normal - normal for everyone except pregnant women - which is similar to the world of The Other Women. And the ending...well, I wasn't smiling at the end of it. But I do think the ending was appropriate and realistic, and as satisfying as it can be without being a particularly happy one.

So - if you're as eager to pick up The Other Women as I am to toss it at you, I hope you'll take a look at this and the other books on the list in the meantime. If you do, or if you've read one of the other books on the list, I'd love to know your take. Just reply to this email and let me know what you thought.

See you next time

P.S. Who doesn't like a good book recommendation? If you know someone who can't stop bingeing The Handmaid's Tale (*ahem* other than me) send them this email. I bet they'd like my work too. They can sign up to receive updates here.

P.P.S. Did you know I'm in all the social spaces? You can catch me @kadilakwrites on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

P.P.S. Back to Jake's - okay, my - toothpaste transgression. Having watched my father perform countless maintenance tasks over my short life, I was inclined to do the same. And the toothpaste tube, and the sticky substance inside it, looked to me exactly like the caulk Daddy used around the bathtub. So, really, I was helping to keep the bathroom leak-free; I just didn't have the words to explain it. Now to pull Jakes memory from under the bus...